Press Releases

Recently, the Center for Effective Lawmaking released its analysis of the 118^th Congress and found Congressman Bill Huizenga (R-MI) to be the most effective member of the Michigan Congressional Delegation in the U.S. House. The analysis also found during divided government in the last Congress, Huizenga exceeded expectations by outperforming the established benchmark by more than 60%. Overall, Congressman Huizenga scored in the top 8% of all House Members for the 118^th Congress. Upon reviewing the report, Congressman Huizenga released the following statement.

“It is an honor to be named the most effective member of the Michigan Delegation in the U.S. House,” said Congressman Bill Huizenga. “My top priority continues to be serving the residents of Southwest Michigan in the most efficient and effective way possible. While there is still much work to be done, I look forward to continuing to deliver on legislative solutions that make Southwest Michigan an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.”

Background:

The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is a joint partnership between the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University. Each Congress, CEL ranks lawmakers according to their effectiveness using a combination of 15 metrics on the bills they sponsor, how far they move through the legislative process, and how substantial their policy proposals are. Lawmakers are then assigned a Legislative Effectiveness Score (LES). The study provides evidence on how effective lawmaking continued to occur despite divided government and internal struggles within closely divided chambers of Congress.

The average score in both the House and the Senate was normalized to 1.0. Additionally, CEL establishes a benchmark for each member which is their expected LES based on their party, seniority, and committee position. Congressman Huizenga was given a benchmark of 1.481 but earned a score of 2.383 and was labeled as “exceed expectations.” Lawmakers “exceed expectations” when they outperform the benchmark by 50% or more. More information and scores for the entire Michigan Delegation can be found here.